Davies, Lillliebelle 1920-1935
DAVIES, NOEDING, NOEDEING, SPENCE, HARRINGTON
Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 2/17/2023 at 18:22:21
Clayton County Register, Thur., 20 June 1935.
Double funeral services for Lilla Belle Davies, age 15, and Arthur Noedeing, age 25, were held Monday afternoon at the home of the girl's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Davies, near McGregor. They were buried side by side.
Noedeing, hired man on the Davies farm, shot himself Saturday after receiving word of the death of the Davies girl, first reported to be the result of an auto accident and then revealed as being the result of an alleged illegal operation at Waterloo.
Dr. Anna J. Longshore, Waterloo, accused of performing the operation, is being held in the Black Hawk county jail under $10,000 bond on a second degree murder charge.
The McGregor girl died early Saturday in the Presbyterian hospital in Waterloo. A few hours after the girl's death had been reported in McGregor, Arthur Noedeing shot and killed himself in a woodland on a farm near McGregor.
The murder charge against Dr. Longshore was filed in municipal court Saturday night by Ralph W. Travis, assistant county attorney, on information signed by Mrs. Tillie Brown, Waterloo police matron.
The death certificate for the girl gave the cause of death as internal hemorrhage and septic peritonitis. She was admitted to the Waterloo hospital Friday night.
Noedeing's body was found at 2:20 p.m. Saturday by Verne Spence, brother of Mrs. Davies. A .38 caliber automatic pistol lay beside the body, and under the head was a notebook in which he had written: "I loved Lilla Belle more than anything under the sun. I had caressed her like a sister until about a year ago when we became (next word blurred). I wanted to go away and make a place in the world for both of us, but I listened to poor advice. I have labored here for almost seven years and between the two, work and worry, it lowered my resistance. I am not afraid to die and now that the flower of my life has been picked I see no reason for going on."
Noedeing was brought up on a farm close to the Davies farm. His sister, Mrs. Lester Davies, whose husband is a cousin of Harry Davies, lives in the same neighborhood.
His body was taken to Pilkington undertaking parlors at McGregor, after Justice of the Peace Albeck, acting for the coroner who was absent, pronounced verdict of suicide.
Dr. Longshore has twice faced Black Hawk county juries on murder charges, both based on alleged illegal operations. In 1913 she was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but the supreme court ordered a new trial, which was never held. In 1918 she was acquitted in another case.
First word of the McGregor girl's death, reported caused by an auto accident, was received by George Harrington of Marquette, a brother of Mrs. Davies. The girl's mother was with her in Waterloo where they had said they were going to visit. Mr. Davies, a local dairyman and past commander of the McGregor and Marquette American Legion posts, who was absent on a fishing trip when the tragic news came, was located at Cresco and left at once for Waterloo.
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Mason City Globe-Gazette, June 18, 1935
Waterloo, June 18 - Dr. Anna J. Longshore, 60, charged with the murder of Lillia Belle Davies, 14 year-old McGregor girl who died here Saturday, Monday in municipal court waived preliminary hearing and was held to the district court in $10,000 bail, which has not been furnished.Dr. Longshore is being held in the county jail. She was represented in court by Frank W. Edwards, former county attorney. Burr C. Towne, county attorney, and Ralph W. Travis, assistant, represented the state.
Double funeral services for the Davies girl and Arthur Noedeing, 26, farmhand on her parents farm near McGregor, who shot himself Saturday when he learned of the girl's death, were held Monday afternoon at the home of the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Davies, with burial side by side.
The girl died six hours after being admitted to a hospital. Her mother told Mrs. Tillie Brown, police matron, who signed the murder information, that Dr. Longshore had performed an operation on the girl last Monday, and that they had paid her $65 for the operation.
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Mason City Globe-Gazette, July 5, 1935 (and other papers) noted that Dr. Longshore had been released from jail on bond of $10,000.
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Muscatine Journal, 21 Jan. 1936 - An article reports that the murder charge against Dr. Anna Longshore was dropped as the states primary witness, Mrs. Harry Davies, completely changed her story.
Previously, in 1913, Dr. Longshore was sentenced to prison for murder, but the supreme court reversed and remanded that decision and the case was never retried. In 1918 she was acquitted of another murder charge.
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Waterloo Daily Courier, 24 & 25 Jan. 1949 - Death notices for Dr. Anna Longshore say she died in bed of a heart attack at the age of 80 years. Her body was taken to a funeral home in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and burial was to be at Bussey, Iowa. (note: Bussey is a small town in Marion Co., Iowa.)
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Notes: Lilliebelle Davies (1920-1935) and Norman Noeding (1909-1935) are buried side by side in Pleasant Grove cemetery. Differing from the news article, their names on the gravestones are Lilliebelle (rather than Lilla Belle) and Norman (rather than Arthur).
The 1930 U.S. census enumerates the family of Harry & Ruth Davis, their daughters Lillie Belle & Muriel; and employee/farm laborer Norman Noeding.
No full obits for either of them could be found in the Clayton co. Register.
View their gravestones (Find A Grave)
(views: 2218)Clayton Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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